The new factor boosting Sergio Perez

A relatively new phenomenon is taking hold in Formula 1. In the last 15 or so years, even more drivers have made their grand prix racing debuts at the very start of their third decade - and in several cases before the end of their second.

Young drivers graduating to F1 is nothing new, but in recent years it has become more intense - the rules were even changed after Max Verstappen's debut at 17...

This, allied to (in normal circumstances) a seemingly ever-expanding calendar, means there are soon going to be a lot of drivers that have racked up hundreds of F1 starts, and being described as 'in their prime', 'stalwarts' and 'veterans' - even long before they enter their fourth decade.

Looking back to the early years of the decade just gone, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld had long since turned from new faces to established racers, while Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were starting to do likewise. In 2010, Nico Hulkenberg (now out of F1, of course), made his debut, and the following year it was the turn of Sergio Perez.

He made quite an impact. In his opening race, the very first event to feature the ultra-fragile early Pirelli-era rubber, he produced a one-stop masterclass to finish seventh for Sauber, only to lose those well-deserved points when he and team-mate Kamui Kobayashi were disqualified over non-compliant rear wings.

From there, his rookie season featured more fine drives to the points - a massive Monaco accident that forced him to miss two races - a fresh Sauber deal and testing duties for Ferrari, with which he was a junior driver. Then came that famous 2012 season where he picked up three podiums, which include his near-win while chasing Alonso in Malaysia.

Perez's move to McLaren for 2013 coincided with the slip down the F1 order the team is now finally reversing, and after leaving one of F1's big squads - such surroundings where he had previously been on a trajectory to remain for a long time - the following year he arrived at Force India. And he's been there ever since.

"In my third race with the team, I was back on the podium," Perez tells Autosport from his home in Mexico, where he is remaining during the coronavirus lockdown. "And since then, it really changed everything. I would never have imagined to be that long with the team. Because pretty much, up to now, every year was a year renewal - year-by-year [contracts] - because every year I thought that was going to be my last. That I was going to change team."

Perez rediscovered his midfield-podium-scoring abilities at Force India. This is not to be underestimated. Since 2014, only nine drivers outside Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari have picked up rostrums (and two of those, Jenson Button and Carlos Sainz Jr, were boosted by Class A cars being disqualified).

His run to third behind the dueling Mercedes in Bahrain in his first Force India year was a good start, and only in two years since then (2017 and 2019) has he failed to bring in silverware. Given what we now know about Force India's financial struggles to survive in those years, it's far from a bad record. But inevitably, Perez says, those difficulties filtered down to the track.

"Force India nearly collapsing was something that really put us together as a team, as a family" Sergio Perez

"It obviously has an impact - because you go to a race and you know that if you touch your front wing, you might not get one three races after," he says when asked how his team's financial peril influenced his driving.

"So you are obviously conscious that there is no room for mistakes - because a little mistake can be very costly with the financial troubles that we had back then in 2014, 2015, even 2016."

But it wasn't just on the track where Perez had to be careful. It was partly his legal action that put Force India into administration ahead of the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix, which ultimately ended Vijay Mallya's time as the team's owner, and eventually resulted in Lawrence Stroll's consortium buying the squad. This saved jobs - very much at risk given a looming winding-up petition that Perez's move superseded - and led to new resources coming into the team.

"It was the year that I think has been the hardest during my career as a driver because I ended up in a position where I could do something to save a lot of jobs," says Perez. "There were times where just before qualifying I was coming out of meetings and so on - it was very excited. But even then, we managed to do very well that year.

"It was [about] looking at the big picture, knowing that the thing was very close to basically shutting down. It was going that way and that was going to mean that a lot of people that I've worked with through so many years were going to lose their jobs. So, I had to trigger the option.

"At the time, I was really disappointed how it came out on the news. They put it out that I was basically trying to get my salary. And that at the time was the least important thing. I remember just before qualifying, going to my mechanics and telling them that I was doing it for them, for all their colleagues, not for my salary and so on. And they really appreciated [that].

"And that's something that really put us together as a team, as a family."

The most tangible result of the team's rebirth as Racing Point - which will be rebranded as Aston Martin in 2021 - can surely be seen in its 2020 challenger. The RP20 caused a considerable stir in winter testing due to its close likeness with the Mercedes W10 from 2019. It ranked highly in the headline laptimes - fifth-best of the combined teams' standings - and looked to be the clear pick of the midfield in Autosport's analysis of testing overall.

Perez says the team had "very big hopes we were going to be extremely competitive" in the aborted Australian Grand Prix. The fortunes - and potential controversies - of the first properly new car of the Racing Point era (even 2019's RP19 had considerable carryover from its predecessor, a needs-must feature of the final Force India years) will be one of the major storylines if/when the 2020 season finally gets going.

But there's a major off-track development that is boosting Perez as he looks towards the latest chapter in his lengthy F1 career - as the 2020 campaign will be his 10th in the championship. It's the three-year deal he signed with Racing Point last summer.

It means he will see the squad enjoy its new income as the Racing Point/Aston Martin project develops, which Stroll insists he is "committed" too, despite the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainties regarding Aston's finances. "This is just a temporary pause in the journey", he added in a statement released following the confirmation of his takeover of the Aston road car company.

"I think now we get the big opportunity," says Perez. "To be partnering with Aston Martin."

"I'm very pleased with what I have achieved, but I obviously want more" Sergio Perez

The new era will be with a squad that Perez knows very well, and which clearly appreciates him in return: "On a Sunday there aren't many other drivers that I'd like to have in our car than Sergio," says team boss Otmar Szafnauer. "On a Sunday he's excellent. He rarely makes mistakes, [is] very calculated, and just drives really well. And he's got this innate ability to look after the tyres."

It might be seven years since he was last representing a major automotive company, but Racing Point's Aston rebrand will re-establish Perez with business that has a long history in motorsport - as he once had as a Ferrari junior, and briefly at McLaren - even though there is considerable debate around the 'works' nature of the Aston rebrand.

But however that next chapter works out, Perez's F1 'veteran' status has been achieved in more than just number of starts (176) or age. The success he has achieved, the on-track clashes (i.e. the Esteban Ocon rivalry), and the off-track drama - it certainly is a storied career, which shows no signs of ending just yet.

"It's crazy how quickly it's gone," Perez concludes. "And I feel proud - proud of what I have achieved with the machinery I've had in my career.

"And I don't think it's close to being over. I'm still very young, only 30 years old. But now I have a long-term contract with the team and I cannot really think much further than that. I made sure that contract is very successful - that I'm able to achieve great things with this team. And then I will take it as it comes.

"Up to now I'm very pleased with what I have achieved, but I obviously want more."

The full story of Racing Point's transformation from near-collapse to its upcoming Aston Martin era - as well as the team's firm defence of the RP20's legality - will be included in next week's issue of Autosport magazine, which is available in shops and online.